Farrago

  ‘Eudaimonia’ a concept rooted in Greek philosophy, translates to living well, flourishing and signifies a state of well being that goes beyond pleasure. It means living a life of fulfillment in accordance with one’s purpose and potential! It emphasizes on finding purpose and contributing to the well being of others. It’s a very personal process of finding this purpose and potential.. though there are some feelings of well being and trance that I have felt.. which I would like to keep feeling 😊 . It happens either when you are doing something meaningful or creating something meaningful. And for me, the second aspect of creation seems to have overtaken the aspect of ‘doing’.  Creation could be doing anything from scratch. And I don’t think I create anything as enjoyable as when I write something of my own. I am not judging what I write ( whether it could be classified as being good or bad), but just reiterating that the process of writing is what brings me most happiness an...

  Human family, one of the long lasting and influential systems we go through in our lives, has always intrigued me. Being part of a very conservative, orthodox middle class family could be the source of this intrigue 😀 .. however the intrigue is now on the mode of self-questioning and confusion! I ventured into a new system called ‘family’of my own, like a lot of us do.. hoping the path to take its own journey and leading to its own destination. As I am on this journey now, a lot of, off and on questioning keeps happening- both with regard to myself and the system called ‘family’. A simple definition of a ‘family’ according to me are a group of people living together with the thread of trust binding them and who extend support and care to each other. The reason the two people who began this family, came together could vary from hormones, soul mate kind of love, any other kind of love, friendship, like-mindedness, companionship, or some other need based chemistry. The reasons to s...

Havent really made resolutions for long.. but heres one after many years. I hope to write more often this year, and with no intention of wanting to prove anything or make this world a better place.. .. but just with an expectation of making myself happier because I expressed ‘me’! Writing is a big release for me. I have a hand written ‘To do’ list everyday. One side of the paper will be things related to work and the other half of ‘to dos’ for the house. They are often on equal footing ☺  .. leaving me little time to do anything for myself. So now in the ‘Home’ side of ‘to dos’ I also include what I want to do for myself in the day.. which now includes   ..” write something” ! The aim is to cut off every item on there by the EOD, else it moves on the next days .. ‘To do’! I think there’s a lot of energy one needs to put into the act of ‘talking’. You need to have the context set, you need to have other distractions out, if in a group, you have to be louder than the loudest...

I started on this journey of romanticizing farm living a few years back. A course in Ecology opened my horizons to alternate solutions, alternate lifestyle, alternate thinking.. well just an alternate to everything  that I was doing  J There was a rising energy within me to bring all that I had been exposed to into action. The wave led me to joining a lot of NGOs working in the field of environment. So I planted trees, watered trees, joined movements where we spent 1 hour a week engaging citizens. I was having my own business of home delivery of organic and natural produce. I already knew a lot of people in the NGO industry and once I started working regularly I started getting involved more. Soon I moved from being a business person to being a Volunteer J . I was noticing the change in myself, but I think being a gregarious person, I wanted my daughter and husband also to come along. So our outings on weekends mostly were on a hill or by the river! Engaging with people t...

I have been in the field of toxin free and natural produce for the last 7 years and have used the word ‘chemical’ as my USP all the while. Do not eat chemicals.. move to natural food- has been my mantra! List of pesticides and fertilizers that are used by farmers to ensure a good crop in turn lead their way into your vegetables in an unseen form and shape and become a part of you- so watch what you eat. My kitchen due to this, has pretty much been toxin free upto 85% atleast. But I attended a toxin free session from Jeevitnadi ( an NGO formed by the alumini of the Ecological society) with my bi focal spectacles on, and realised how there are numerous other toxins unseen and unfelt that I was breathing and internalising within my house, other than food!. The list started with assumed purified water that one drinks from our posh water purifiers and ended with the moisturiser that one uses on the skin – the organ that absorbs 80% of whatever it receives!! The Farrago jumped and...

2015-16 I undertook a PG Diploma course from Ecological Society of Pune. Unlike other courses which add on to your resume, this course, made me feel like reducing things written on my resume! An MBA in Marketing. MS in Retail Sciences and my overall professional career of looking at how to make others ‘buy more’ and myself ‘spend more’ suddenly seemed like a horrible concoction of boredom, despair and wrong doing! Way ahead, Aspirations, Fast paced future and Power and position were ingrained to be the manner in which one led one’s life. However after this course- Water, Air ,Food and Pollution seemed to take the space of what defined life. These basic elements which I always took for granted and really didn’t know much about, suddenly were brought in front of me to look through a magnifying glass. The river, mountains, forests, and the innumerable species of fauna and flora that exists in every 2 square feet of earth were all unknown to me! Did each of these connect to me...